763.72113 Au 7/23
The Austrian Minister (Prochnik) to the Secretary of State
Excellency: Section 10, subsection d, of the “Settlement of War Claims Act of 1928” provides that all money and other property be held to be owned by the German Government if no claim thereto has been filed with the Alien Property Custodian prior to the expiration of one year from the date of the enactment of the aforementioned legislature.
Under the afore referred to provision certain trusts held by the Alien Property Custodian for owners of Austrian citizenship could become property of the German Government, if, for some reason or other, they should be held not properly claimed within the meaning of the law. With other words, the afore referred to stipulation of the “Settlement of War Claims Act” is apt to deprive Austrian rightful owners of their property, if not special care is taken to protect them from such loss.
In order to be able to fully safeguard the interests of Austrian owners of property seized and held by the Alien Property Custodian, this Legation would highly appreciate Your Excellency’s intermediary in having this office enlightened by an authentic statement as to certain points which are doubtful to me, viz.
- 1.)
- If an owner had already previously filed a claim for return of that portion of his property, which could be released under the terms of the “Winslow Act”,15 does he now have to file a new claim to protect himself against the application of the above cited stipulation of the Settlement of War Claims Act, or will the filing of the claim in the first instance be considered an act intended to establish his right of ownership to his whole property? With other words, has an owner filed a claim to his whole property within the meaning of the law, when he claimed a portion thereof under the Winslow Act.
- 2.)
- Will the Alien Property Custodian in due course and after fulfillment of the prerequisites of the law of 1928, ex officio release the remainder of the property held by him in trust for owners who already had claimed and obtained part of it under the Winslow Act, or will such owners have to make a special application for the release of the [Page 468] remainder of their property? With other words, will the Alien Property Custodian only act on filing of an application by the owner?
- In the latter case, what are the forms to be observed by the applicants? Will the Alien Property Custodian furnish this Legation with the rules and regulations to be followed by applicants and with the pertaining application blanks and printed forms?
- 3.)
- How will the interest accrued from the time of seizure up to March 4, 1923 (unallocated interest) be returned to such owners who already have claimed and obtained return of their property under the Winslow Act? Will such owners have to file a special claim for release of above referred to interest, or will the Alien Property Custodian, ex officio allocate the so-called unallocated interest to the trusts already released by him under the Winslow Act?
- 4.)
- Some of Austrian owners have property held by the Alien Property Custodian under different trusts. When they made application for return of part of their property under the Winslow Act (up to $10,000), they filed only their claims against as many of the trusts recorded in their name as seemed sufficient to cover the maximum sum allowed under said law, i. e. $10,000– Such owners may be under the impression that they already have established their right of ownership to all the trusts held in their name by having claimed part of their property under the Winslow Act, and they may await further action by the Alien Property Custodian.
Are they justified in above supposition, or would the other trusts, for the return of which they failed to make an application be held unclaimed and thus become property of the German Government?
For instance: A owns $62,000 held by the Alien Property Custodian in four different trusts, let us say, $10,000, 15,000, 17,000 and $20,000.– After the passage of the Winslow Act he merely filed claim for the return of the first trust ($10,000) as it would have been useless for him to claim the others.
Has now A within the meaning of the law claimed his right of ownership to all the four trusts by having under the Winslow Act filed a claim for the return of one of them (the $10,000 one), or will he lose the other three trusts to the German Government if he fails to file special claims for each of the remaining three trusts before March 9, 1929?
The afore cited technical and other reasons may in strength of section 10, subsection d, of the Settlement of War Claims Act result in losses to rightful Austrian owners. Besides there may be the one or other case where a claim was not filed in proper time because the owner died and the heirs were ignorant of the existence of some property in trust with the Alien Property Custodian to which they would have a rightful claim.
[Page 469]It would seem to me highly important and I would greatly appreciate if Your Excellency would ask the Alien Property Custodian to cause a list of all unclaimed property recorded as Austrian owned to be furnished to this Legation at the earliest possible convenience. This Legation foresees a great deal of work requiring a considerable time in locating the rightful owners of unclaimed property, the more so as the cooperation of the authorities of the Succession States will in all likelihood have to be resorted to, in order to establish beyond doubt the present citizenship of the owners concerned.
It is for this reason that I take the liberty to ask for an early compliance with this request.
Finally I would be thankful for an advice as to the modus of procedure to be followed by those Austrian owners, who as yet have not filed claims under the Winslow Act and for whatever other suggestions the Alien Property Custodian could offer to this Legation for a full protection of the rights of Austrian claimants.
Accept [etc.]
- 42 Stat. 1511.↩